What Could Have Been
by Flying Zuccini
Summary: Hermione is happily married to Ron, mostly, but in a strange twist of fate she gets to experience a moment in what her life could have been if she had married someone else.  Rated for mature adult themes. *One-Shot* Sequel is called What Dreams May Come.


Hermione woke to a bright beam of light coming in the large picture window of her bedroom. Someone was perched on the bed beside her, stroking the side of her face. Wait, picture window? Face stroking? She turned her face abruptly and squinted in the early morning light.

"Breakfast is ready," Draco Malfoy said softly.

Draco Malfoy? What was going on here? Hermione hadn't seen Draco since her Hogwarts days. She had no recollection of entering this room with him the night before. Did she really go home with him? Where was Ron?

This bedroom was massive and was much nicer and brighter than she would ever picture Draco Malfoy's bedroom being. Was this his room? Or had she somehow ended up in his guest bedroom? The bed had a white and rose-coloured canopy draping around the sides of it, she and Draco were cocooned inside of it. She could make out half of the bedroom and the large picture window through the curtain that Draco had opened when entering the bed.

"Come on, the kids are waiting for their mum to come down before they start on their pancakes."

Kids? Now she was even more confused. Was she losing her mind? Did she have amnesia? If they were waiting for their mum, why was Draco up here wasting his time with her?

"Er, Draco?" she said uncertainly, his first name feeling strange on her tongue.

"Yes dear?" he said, standing up and pulling a thick bathrobe from the back of the door.

"Never mind," she said. If she was crazy, she might as well play along. She reached for the bathrobe and quickly wrapped it around herself. It was so soft and warm inside that Hermione was sure that she could wear it forever.

She followed Draco slowly and curiously out of the room. This was his house? It was beautiful, and huge! She sunk into the thick carpet that covered the spiral staircase. She almost fell over when she saw the huge family portrait that hung on the wall of the landing. Her own face smiled widely in the picture. Seated beside her was Draco, with an equally large grin. In front of them were two beautiful children, a blonde girl who looked about seven and a dark-haired boy who appeared about five.

Hermione tried to hide the look of shock on her face as they turned into the large, open kitchen. The kids were practically shaking with excitement over the fancy, homemade breakfast by the time Hermione and Draco entered the room.

"Mummy!" the little boy cried happily as they sat down at the table.

"What took you so long?" the girl asked.

"Sorry guys," Hermione said, realizing that she didn't even know their names. "Go ahead and eat now."

"Dig in!" Draco said, serving pancakes to all four of them.

"It looks wonderful," Hermione said, helping herself to some extra crispy bacon. It was delicious, made just the way she liked it.

"Easy with the syrup Diana!" Draco scolded, reaching across the table to remove the pitcher from the little girl's hands. Hermione saw that the girl looked upset at his harsh tone. Draco smiled and said, "You're going to rot your teeth out with all of that sugar! What would Grandma and Grandpa Granger think?"

Diana, a beautiful name, Hermione thought. It was a name that she had always wanted her daughter to have. And now that is my daughter's name, she mused. She wanted to know the boy's name, her son's name. She opened her mouth to say something, and then shut it. She had no idea what to say.

She hadn't a clue what was going on here. Her head felt as if it had been shot a few times by a blast-ended skrewt. She was married to Ron, she lived with him in a small house on the Burrow's property. They had no children, despite the fact that they had been married for nearly five years. They had wanted to have children of course and had begun trying right after they got married. By some evil stroke of bad luck, Ron was unable to have children, a fact that his mother still wouldn't believe.

For Molly and Arthur, having children had been easy. Molly just couldn't come to terms with the fact that one of her children would not be able to do the same. Hermione knew that Molly secretly thought that the problem lay with her. She had brought this up with Ron on only one occasion and he had become so defensive of himself and his mother that she hadn't brought it up again. She knew though, that it was all putting a strain on the marriage and she didn't know what to do about it.

"Daddy said that he might take us flying today," the little boy said suddenly, startling Hermione out of her thoughts. Draco must have mistaken her alarm for something else though because he jumped right in.

"Logan! I told you to wait until after I had brought the idea up with your mum!" he glanced at Hermione sheepishly. She gave him a questioning look.

"Sorry Daddy," Logan went back to eating his pancakes.

"I know that you hate the idea of me taking the kids flying Hermione, but I thought maybe…Just this once?"

Hermione tried to think of how to react to this question. She didn't know these kids, but she did have strong feelings about letting children up in the air on a skinny piece of wood. It made her very nervous to think of kids in that unsafe environment.

"You'll be flying with them?" she asked. "On the same broomstick?"

"Of course," Draco said quickly. "I'm not just going to let them take off on their own! They really won't have to do anything at all but sit there; I'll hold on to them and do all of the steering."

"I guess it's alright then, just this once," she said finally.

"Oh yes, thanks Mum!" Diana yelled getting to her feet.

"Can we go right now?" Logan asked.

"Well, you need to go and get dressed first," Hermione didn't even have a chance to finish the sentence before the two children were out of the room and pounding up the staircase to their bedrooms.

"Thanks 'Mione, you know this really means a lot to me," Draco said. "Knowing that you finally trust me enough to take them up."

Draco stood up from the table and walked around to where she was sitting. Hermione didn't know what he was going to do before he placed his hands gently on her shoulders.

"I love you Hermione Malfoy, you know that?" He asked with a wolfish grin.

Before Hermione could think of how she should answer that, he was kissing her. She had kissed Ron many times and a few boys before him, but never in all of her memory had she been kissed like this. Draco's lips on hers seemed to suck every sight, sound and smell out of the room around her. She could not feel a thing accept for him, right in front of her, touching her. His fingers sent electric shocks through every part of her body as they settled on her back and on the side of her face.

The breath was pulled from her lungs and she forgot everything else. She forgot about Ron and all of their problems. She forgot about the fact that Draco Malfoy was supposed to be her enemy, she was supposed to hate him. She forgot her own name.

While she couldn't feel or sense anything around the room, she certainly felt things within herself. As the kiss deepened and she opened her mouth to allow Draco's tongue to explore her own she felt a burning heat spread through her body. It started in her mouth, traveled to her heart and then pooled at her core making her feel practically on fire with desire for this man that she hated.

She let her own fingers snake through the silky, blonde hair on his head. She was shocked by how soft it was. When they were in school his hair had always been slicked back with gel making it look almost like a helmet. Although he had no gel in his hair now, Hermione would have assumed that there would be some long-lasting damage from all of that product. She couldn't have been more wrong.

She let her hand travel from his hair down the back of his neck, biting his bottom lip along the way. Her hand came to rest on the top of his back, she could feel his muscles, tight underneath his black, cotton t-shirt. His shoulders were broad and the muscles hard beneath her touch.

Draco made an aggressive growling sound in his throat and pushed himself closer to her. He brought his hand through the opening in the front of her bathrobe, cupping her breast through the thin material of the nightgown she had woken up in. Hermione felt her nipples harden instantly at his touch and she arched her body towards him. Just as she was beginning to wonder if they were going to have sex right here in the kitchen with the children just upstairs she heard a noise in the doorway.

"Ew!" and then a stream of childish giggles.

Draco moaned softly and then pulled away, turning to the two small figures in the doorway. Hermione tried to quickly pull herself together, making sure that the front of her robe was securely closed and trying to smooth her hair. She knew that her face was flushed as she looked at Diana and Logan, dressed and ready to go flying.

"Come on Daddy! Let's go!" Diana whined.

"Alright, alright," Draco grumbled heading to the doorway. He turned back. "You coming 'Mione?"

"To watch my children flying around, close to certain death? I think I'll pass and stay here cleaning up the kitchen," she laughed.

All three of them grinned and ran out of the house. Hermione realized quickly that she was going to see them anyway. The kitchen window faced right into the field behind the house. She could see Draco heading towards a shed where she assumed he kept the broomsticks. She sighed and got up, looking at the dishes on the table.

As she was running the water in the sink she wondered again what was happening. Was she dreaming? No, the desire still in her gut told her that this was much too real to be a dream. Then what? Some sort of elaborate prank? But the children actually resembled her. Did she have amnesia? That could be the only option, she must have divorced Ron and married Draco. That would mean that she was missing at least eight years of her life though, it was unfathomable.

What she should be doing was asking Draco what was going on, or at least letting her supposed husband know that she had no memory of any of this and had no idea how they had ended up together. She just couldn't bring herself to burst this perfect bubble just yet. In case it was all a dream or a mistake, she wanted to embrace and relish this perfect life for the moment that she had here.

Her thoughts turned to Ron for a moment and she felt guilty. Had they gotten a divorce? Had it been because he couldn't have children? Draco didn't look very old, so they couldn't have waited very long after getting together to have children. It was true, she had always wanted a big family, being an only child herself. She had been devastated when she and Ron had been unable to conceive. Before that had happened she didn't even know that people in the magical world could have such a problem.

But she loved Ron, until this moment she had never even imagined herself with anyone else. Sure their life wasn't perfect, but she was happy, wasn't she? She stopped scrubbing the plate in her hands and was still for a moment. This morning had showed her a glimpse of something very different than what her life with Ron was. She was very comfortable with Ron, she never had to worry about being herself around him. Was she too comfortable? Maybe she wasn't really happy, maybe her life was just what she had become accustomed too.

She finished washing the dishes and was just starting to open cupboards to try and figure out where they all belonged when she heard a voice coming through the doorway of the kitchen. She glanced outside and could still see Draco and the kids in the field.

"Hello?" the voice called. "Hermione? Draco?"

Hermione closed the last cupboard and headed towards the doorway, following the sound of the woman's voice.

"Hello?" she called again. "Anybody home?"

Hermione finally entered into a large and cozy sitting room. At the centre of the room was a bricked fireplace. In the fireplace was the floating head of Narcissa Malfoy.

"Oh Hermione, thank goodness. I was beginning to think you had forgotten and that you four had gone out somewhere!"

"Forgotten?" Hermione said slowly.

"Oh so you did forget!" Narcissa said with a soft, girlish laugh. "Lucius and I are supposed to be having the children over for a visit today! They were supposed to come through the fireplace a half hour ago."

"Oh, I'm so sorry Narcissa. Draco and the kids are outside, I'll go get them now."

Hermione turned from the fireplace feeling a little strange. Weren't the Malfoy's supposed to be in jail? Hermione shook her head, she had no idea how much time had passed between her Hogwarts days and now, they must have been released by now.

"Draco!" she called out the kitchen door. "Your mother is in the fireplace!"

Draco abruptly stopped the broom that he and Logan were perched on and began his descent to the ground. Hermione was pleased to see that Logan was wearing a helmet as well as knee and elbow pads and the Draco was flying very slowly and smoothly. When he finally reached the ground he walked over to his wife.

"What was that about my mother in the fireplace?" He asked, slightly out of breath.

"She said that kids are supposed to be over there for a visit today?"

"Oh!" Draco said, hitting his forehead. "I forgot."

"Well, the kids should probably go now," she said quietly, not wanting to upset the children by telling them that they couldn't fly anymore.

"Kids! Go upstairs and grab your overnight bags, it's time to go to Grandmother and Grandfather's house!"

The whining that Hermione had expected never came. The kids immediately threw of their helmets and other gear, running into the house with excited grins on their faces.

"I thought they'd be sad that they couldn't fly anymore," Hermione said, tucking a piece of windblown hair behind her ear.

"Nah," Draco waved his hand. "Their attention spans are too short, and you know how they love going to my parents."

"Of course," Hermione said, although she didn't know. To be honest, she couldn't imagine any child having fun in the dark and overwhelming home of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.

"And now we'll have the house to ourselves to finish what we started at breakfast this morning," Draco said with a sly grin.

Hermione felt herself blushing as Draco grabbed her hand and began to lead her into the house. The children were already in the sitting room with their fully-packed overnight bags when their parents got inside. Apparently Draco and Hermione hadn't forgotten everything, they _had_ managed to pack bags for them. The children were impatiently shuffling from one foot to the other as Draco knelt down to speak to his mother.

"Now Draco, the kids will come back through the fireplace at precisely 11:30 tomorrow, some of us can remember to be on time about these sorts of things," she scolded.

"Yes mother," Draco mumbled as if he were ten years old again. Hermione had to stifle a laugh with a short cough.

"Alright Logan, Diana, say goodbye to your parents so that you can get over here! Grandfather and I have a lot of fun things planned for this visit!" Narcissa said in a much softer tone than she had used with her own son.

"Bye!" Logan yelled, rushing at Hermione for a hug. She embraced the small child and kissed the top of his head.

"Bye Mum," Diana said, coming over for her own hug.

"Bye children!" Hermione said, surprised to find herself getting a little misty-eyed. She wasn't sure if she would ever see these beautiful children again and she was finding herself very upset about the idea, especially because she and Ron would never have children of their own. She then remembered that there was a good possibility that she wasn't even with Ron anymore. She quickly pulled herself together and stood beside Draco as they watched the children step into their Grandmother's arms on the other side of the fire.

"Shall we?" Draco asked with a wink, the moment they were alone.

"You're an old horn dog aren't you?" Hermione asked, smacking him on the arm.

"I thought you liked that about me," he said with a fake pout.

"The children have been gone for less than thirty seconds!"

"Yes, and we only have twenty-four hours until they return!"

Hermione was about to protest again, she wasn't sure that it was morally right for her to have sex with Draco, even if they were married in this universe. She didn't have an opportunity to decide though because Draco lost his patience and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her towards the stairs.

"What are you doing? Put me down!" she said, pounding her fists on his back,

"No can do sorry," he said. "You know me, I'm a man who gets whatever he wants!"

"You certainly are Malfoy and you always will be, you jerk!"

"Oh yeah, Granger? Is that how we're gonna do this?" Draco said with a chuckle.

"Maybe," she said, grinning into his shoulder.

Before she knew it, Draco was kicking open the door of the bedroom. _Their bedroom_, she corrected herself. For all intents and purposes, she decided, this moment was real. She was going to live it and enjoy every second of it.

Despite his falsely gruff words and manner in getting her up here, Draco laid her down on their bed with the utmost care, gently parting the canopy around them and letting it fall fully closed behind him. Hermione was surprised how dark it was inside the canopy. The white curtains didn't seem thick enough to keep the late morning sunlight from coming in the large bedroom windows.

She didn't get the chance to finish that train of thought though because Draco was tugging on the tie of her bathrobe. He undid the knot and pulled the whole sash right off of her, throwing it to the side, hitting the canopy on the way. He made that soft growling noise in his throat again and Hermione found that she was beginning to find it incredibly sexy.

She expected him to quickly undress her and get on with it. She would never have pictured Draco as the slow, romantic love-making type. He surprised her again when he made no move to pull the robe off of her. He just stayed there over top of her, her body pinned underneath his weight and looked at her. She almost began to feel uncomfortable under his gaze. She knew that the love in his eyes could not be reciprocated in her own and she guessed that he would soon figure out that she was an imposter in his bed.

Draco must have found what he was looking for though because he stopped staring and moved his mouth down to her neck, softly nibbling the flesh behind her ear. Hermione felt goose bumps break out on her skin at the touch. She once again moved her hand to the back of his head, pulling him up to her lips to share a kiss. While the kiss that morning had been aggressive and wanting, this one was soft and sensual.

Without breaking contact with her lips, Draco reached below and pulled the robe off of her right shoulder. She shrugged completely out of it and together they lifted their bodies so that Draco could pull the garment from under her. As Hermione lifted herself off of the bed, she could feel Draco pressed against her and could tell that his desire was as great as her own. The robe immediately went the same way as the sash and they lowered themselves back onto the bed.

She reached around him to the base of his t-shirt, trying to tug it up and off of him. He released her lips for an instant to pull the t-shirt over his head and then came crashing right back down onto them. He trailed a line of soft kisses away from her mouth, down her jaw, her neck, her collarbone. Hermione could only gasp with each contact made.

Draco abruptly pulled back and Hermione nearly whimpered before she realized he was only doing it so that he could pull the silk nightgown off of her body. She shivered as the silk rustled over her flesh, every nerve ending alive and sensitive. Draco lowered her back down and brought his mouth to her breast. Hermione moaned as his lips connected with one of her most sensitive places.

As far as Hermione was concerned, Ron never paid enough attention to her breasts. He would fumble with them for a few minutes and then get right down to the business of getting his rocks off. Draco was the opposite. His callused hands ran breathtaking circles over them and his lips did things to her nipples that were unlike anything she had ever felt before. Hermione was so engrossed in the pleasure, she was worried she would orgasm from this alone.

She felt Draco place a knee between her legs, wedging them apart. She pulled at the top of his riding pants, they were too damn tight! She grunted in frustrating trying to pull them off of him. She could feel his breath on her chest as he chuckled over her trouble. Finally he relented and pulled them off for her, sliding his boxers off with them, Hermione got her first glimpse of him.

She was surprised to see how long he was, but also how slender. She could only imagine what this would feel like inside her. The only other man she had ever been in bed with was Ron, and while he was not poorly-endowed, he was definitely not as large as Draco.

Tentatively, she reached a hand down and placed it around his member, he was hard as a rock and throbbed under her hand. As she worked her hand up and down she felt him slowly move his own hand down and slip a finger inside her. She moaned at the sudden penetration and kissed him hard on the lips. She was practically panting by the time he removed his finger.

She lifted her hands to his lower back and pulled him towards her. He slowed again and looked down at her. This time Hermione knew it would be passion that he saw in her eyes. He kissed her quickly and then whispered something in her ear.

"I still can't believe you're mine, even after all this time."

Hermione was going to try and say something back, but at that moment Draco smoothly entered her. God, it was incredible. He started to move right away. She thought that she might need a moment to adjust to his size since it was her first time with him, then she remembered that this wasn't really her body's first time with him. She had never felt anything like this before.

Draco moved in and out slowly at first and quickly began picking up speed. Hermione brought one hand to his face, the other remaining on his back. She traced a hand down the side of his cheek and stared into his eyes. They held that eye contact and Hermione could almost feel him looking inside of her.

His breath began to come out in short pants and Hermione could instinctively tell that he was close. She was as well, very close. She ran her fingernails down his back as she felt the heat bursting inside of her. Wave after wave of pleasure swept through her body as Draco collapsed on top of her. As he rolled off of her he kissed her lips softly and pulled her into his strong arms.

"I love you Hermione," he murmured.

"I love you too Draco," she responded as she began to drift into sleep.

* * *

><p>When Hermione woke up, she felt very disoriented. She was still lying in bed, but now she was wearing a cotton nightgown. She looked around the room and found that she was back in her own bed in the room that she had shared with Ron for the past five years. It looked tiny now in comparison to the room that she had fallen asleep in.<p>

She sat up with a start, so it had been a dream! She touched a finger to her lips, they felt swollen from kissing. She moved slightly and felt wetness between her legs. She didn't understand, had it all been a naughty dream? She felt the sheets rustle beside and looked over to find Ron lying beside her.

"Wow Hermione," he said softly. "Last night was incredible."

* * *

><p>Nine months later she was in the hospital with Ron at her side. They had been shocked when they found out that they were pregnant after all. Molly was ecstatic, saying that she knew all along that they would have children someday. Now here they were.<p>

"Ok Hermione," the doctor at the foot of the bed said again. "One more good push!"

Hermione gripped Ron's hand, this labour business had gone on for long enough. She was ready to have this child out of her! She cried through the pain, trying to remember to breathe as she pushed their baby out of her. It felt like it would never end, but then she heard a cry.

"It's a girl Hermione, a girl!" Ron cried out looking at the baby as it was placed on Hermione's chest.

If Ron thought that it was unusual that their baby came out with shockingly blonde hair, he didn't say so. He was too busy looking at how wonderfully perfect she was, counting her fingers and toes.

"Diana," Hermione croaked.

"What was that?" Ron asked, leaning down to her.

"Diana," Hermione repeated. "Her name is Diana."

* * *

><p>* The End *<p>

AN: Well, this was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but because of all the encouragement I received in the reviews, I've decided to write a full-length sequel. It's called What Dreams May Come. If you liked this story, please check it out!


End file.
